Afraid of Darkness
by Withoutatracelover996
Summary: Castle and Beckett deal with the aftermath of a case which put a gang member behind bars. Trouble comes when the leader wants to take his revenge..
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Here's a little taste of the story I was thinking of writing. Let me know what you think. Thanks!**

Kate squirmed under the hand of her assailant, desperately trying to get some airflow as her vision was quickly fading. She caught Castle's figure out of the corner of her eye as he was thrown against the concrete wall. Lungs burning, she delivered a swift kick to the shin of the man crushing her windpipe. Cursing, the man only tightened his grip, and Kate's vision began blackening. She heard her name being called before total darkness took over.

3 hours earlier

Castle approached Kate's desk with a steaming cup of coffee and set it down gently. "How're you doing, beautiful?"

"Just finishing up this paperwork," Kate said, not taking her eyes off the screen in front of her.

"I was thinking we could grab dinner before Alexis' speech," Castle suggested.

"That would be great," Kate said, pausing before she began typing vigorously.

"Kate, why don't you take a break? It's after 6," Castle said.

Kate sighed, running her hands through her hair. "I've got to get this done, Castle. I don't know if we'll even have time for dinner. Gates wants everything ready for the inspection tomorrow and this is another hour of work - at least.

"That's ok," Castle said, "I'll go out and grab Chinese food. We can hang out here until you're done."

Kate closed her eyes, squinching them shut.

"What's wrong?" Castle asked.

"It's this case," Kate sighed, "I feel like we hardly made a dent in the real issue."

"We caught the killer," Castle said.

"You know as well as I do that he was only a small part of something much bigger."

"Let's worry about that another time, as it is – we got one more bad person off the streets," Castle rubbed his wife's back.

"I guess so," Kate yawned, "What time is Alexis' speech again?"

"8:30," Castle rattled off, "If you're not feeling up to it, I can go by myself."

"No," Kate said, "I want to be there for her. It's a big deal – the project's she's been working on at school have been really helping people."

"Yeah," Castle smiled.

"You raised a good kid, babe," Kate held Castle's hand. "Let me get back to this so we'll be there on time."

* * *

"They haven't left yet?" A man radioed in.

"Not yet. I'm behind their car. They won't be able to leave without me seeing them," Patrick said.

"Make sure of it. This cop has been a pain in my ass for six years. She's locked up twenty of my guys – the NYPD needs to be sent a warning, and now."

"Got it, boss. I'll grab them," Patrick said, peering through his binoculars at the stairwell entrance.

"You brought Mikey with you?" The man asked.

"Yeah, he's here. We got it covered," Patrick said.

"Good. Bring them here, and make sure they're alive."

* * *

"Ok babe, I'm done," Kate said, pushing her chair away from the desk.

"Great, we've got half an hour, which should put us at the school by 8:15," Castle said.

"Aren't you starving?" Kate asked as she walked towards the elevator with Castle.

"Yes, I say we hit up Remy's on the way home," Castle said.

"Should we pick up anything for Alexis? Flowers or something?" Kate asked.

Castle pressed P1 on the elevator panel, "That would be nice, maybe some roses."

"A little romantic, don't you think?" Kate teased.

"Alexis loves roses! As do you, if I'm remembering right," Castle said.

"That's very true," Kate said as she stepped out of the elevator.

Castle shouted as a man came out of the doorway swinging a pipe. "Look out!"


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thanks for all your comments_

Sometimes Kate wished she hadn't become a cop. It was a guilty thought, one that only came up when her career affected her personal life in ways she hadn't previously thought imaginable.

The first time the thought struck her was almost twelve years ago, shortly after she had started as a police officer in the sixth precinct. She had been involved in a high-speed chase with her partner after a routine road stop had turned into something bigger when a wanted criminal ended up in their lineup of vehicles.

The man, Nicholas Bradshaw, had a buddy in the car at the time. It was clear they were intoxicated, and although Nicholas was driving – he had dictated the role of shooter to his very inexperienced friend. The man had shot at their car several times, apparently aiming at the tires.

Kate had been shocked when the windshield shattered, but she managed to keep the vehicle under control. She watched as her speedometer crept up to the 120 mark, and asked her partner to check on where their backup was. When she didn't receive an answer, she glanced over at the seat next to her. She didn't expect to see her partner's body to be crumpled down in the chair, stained red from the bullet wound sunken deep into his chest.

Kate shook herself out of her reverie, trying to regain some focus. Once it all came flooding back to her, she once again wished she had never become a cop. She looked a few feet away from her where she saw Castle slumped over in a seat, tied back by various belts and a strip of barbed wire around his waist.

Tugging at her own restraints, she tried to free herself. Wincing in instant pain, she realized she, too, had barbed wire wrapped around her body. However, it wasn't just her waist being affected, but both her wrists and ankles. Blood dripped down her hands and stained the wood of the chair she was seated on.

Kate was surprised to notice that they weren't being kept in the stereotypical basement setting, but rather in a well-maintained office building on what appeared to be a high floor. She looked out of the window only to see the New York City skyline staring back at her. From here, she could recognize several buildings, and quickly realized that she was on the south side of the City, quite close to a coffee shop she and Castle would go to on special occasions for a particularly delicious Frappuccino.

"Kate?" Castle groaned, pulling his head up.

"Castle, are you ok?" Kate asked.

"Been better," Castle huffed. "Guess we missed Alexis' speech."

"Yeah," Kate said absentmindedly.

"Kate, you're bleeding," Castle said, noticing the cuts on Kate's wrists and ankles.

Kate glanced at her wounds, "It's ok, just stings a little. Do you have any leeway?"

Castle tugged on his restraints, "Pretty tight," he said, "But if I worked at it they might get looser," he paused. "Do you think this has to do with our last case?"

"I don't know," Kate said, "Maybe."

Castle sighed, "I'm sorry, Kate."

"For what?"

"For not being able to protect you," Castle looked at her with hurt in his eyes.

Kate felt a heaviness in her heart when she looked at her husband. "Don't ever apologize for that. Everything's going to be alright."

The lights turned on in the room, and a man appeared in sinister silhouette, "What makes you so sure?"


End file.
